Xander and Clare

Xander bought himself some gold shoes. Of course he did. 

While Michael and I painted the living room, hallway and stairwells, Clare built a Lego set of us doing exactly that.

While I was in Boston, Clare ran her THIRD 5K!

This time, she ran with her buddies Lucy and Jasper.

The band sent me home from Boston with a t-shirt for Clare. :)

Xander's first middle school basketball game.

Days before the holiday, the kids set up the downstairs for a sleepover with Henry on Thanksgiving.

Clare hard at work.

Xander asked if he could make our bed nicely. I chose to ignore his judging of the job I'd just done and let him have at it.

Gotta admit: It looked better than the job I did!

Thanksgiving Day with Henry, Kate and Jessica!

Some very serious music listening happening here.

Xander and I have been staying up after everyone else goes to sleep and watching TV together.

Family movie date to see "Wonder."

Time to get a holiday card photo!

Whatcom Middle School game #2!

Opening presents on Michael's birthday bright and early, before we headed to Seattle to celebrate.

Our hotel was very cool.

Have time to kill before the Symphony? Stop at Nike, of course!

My and the kids first time at the Seattle Symphony.

It was pretty great.

X got the pianist's autograph during intermission, right after he'd finished playing Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3.

Next stop: the Seattle Art Museum!

Finding all the X art.

Walked through the market...

A little hotel hang time before heading out for dinner.

Gotta get that Pike Place Market selfie!

Playing tic-tac-toe over dinner, old school and electronic versions.

Xander wanted to pose with Santa as we wandered around Figgy Pudding. Clare? No, thank you.

We then walked up to Capitol Hill to Elliott Bay Books.

I stole this from Xander's Instagram stories. Love this shot!

We spent the rest of the weekend at Xander's basketball tournament in the Seattle area. Here, he and teammate Jake check out the brackets after winning both of their Saturday games.